Wednesday, March 31, 2010

The Human Condition: Part One, Two & THree - NO GREATER LOVE, 1959 (Grade A)

Director: Masaki Kobayashi
Stars:  Tatsuya Nakadai
note: runs 3 Hours and 28 minutes, first of three parts, B&W

SPOILER ALERT -- story facts are given away here.

sez says: Part One & 2: this is a brutal story to watch. A good man, assigned the duty of being a boss, tries to find a moral / humanist path through the thicket of a forced labor camp. How does one develop just labor policies and practices for prisoner's of war, non-combatants, who are forced to work in mines for the war effort (being waged against their own people)?  Our hero tries...and he wages a long hard fight to do the right thing in the face of corruption, jealousy, sadism, prejudice, the demand for increasing output with less and less labor, etc.  This is a masterpiece but it is not entertainment. It is harsh, but compelling and I am looking forward to the next part. Grade A

sez says: just saw part 3&4 -- now our hero is in the army--part 3 is about the sheer and utter brutality of the military --people are treated terrible ways.  We all have seen lots of American boot-camp movies, this makes American discipline look light weight.  Not only are people constantly being beaten but they are being humiliated and, interestingly, the experienced troops out-trump the officers in many cases. They are shown to have a power unto themselves which is beyond the reach of the officers becasue the officers must rely ion them-and IF they refuse an officer's orders the officer is lost --so a balance of power exists. In this case the balance is played out in how much abuse the new recruits will receive.  Of course our hero is on the side of the new recruits and he tries to protect them and train them without brutality--all the time getting beat up himself for his efforts.  In part 4 they go into battle... and the ending comes when our guy is the only one left alive --and he has has, in the process of the battle, killed one of his own.  -- It is slow moving and powerful stuff-- (it is a LONG LONG movie) that is full of stark images that will stay with you. Be warned this is not light weight and it is an immersion gien the time you have to spend with it. Grade A

sez says --ok we did it--we watched the last 3 hours-ie part 5 & 6. this is depressing stuff. Our hero is trying to get back home to his life--and we get to walk with him, and see the horror around him, for about 100 miles across the tundra, through forests, into battles, and a POW camp. All around him women are being mistreated terribly--and all he can think about is his wife and how much he wants to get back to her. He has mixed feelings about if Russia can really stand for the values he has tried to live by--and in a nightmarish scene he tries to talk to Russian officers--but his translator refuses to translate honestly--so he can not understand or be understood.  It is a long drawn out and depressing end.

Sunday, March 21, 2010

The Great Caruso, 1951 (Grade D)

Director: Richard Thorpe
Awards --Academy Awards for Sound, Costume, Score
Staring: Mario Lanza, Ann Blyth,

sez says--"Does the man own the voice or does the voice own the man?"  That's the define line in this movie. And that is punctuated with aria after aria.   There is no real story here, except: rich girl marries a famous peasant who is also a famous singer -- dad does not approve.  Then the singer (Caruso) died young.  Not my cup of tea -- but if you really like Opera you might like it. (My grade is D)